Creamy Tomato Campanelle Pasta
When I think of summer and comfort in a bowl, I think of my Creamy Tomato Campanelle Pasta. The pasta is tossed in a tomato cream sauce and I threw in some sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, kale, and kalamata olives, all of which I feel compliment each other so well in this dish. Feel free to throw in other veggies such as zucchini/squash or even broccoli to change things up a bit.
Although there is a sauce, I wouldn’t consider this dish overly saucy, if you know what I mean. There’s just enough to coat the pasta. I’ve used campanelle pasta in this dish, but you can use whatever pasta that you like. If you’re considering adding parmesan cheese to this dish, then I would recommend sprinkling it on top of each portion after plating. I’ve tried adding it into the dish while cooking and it tends to clump to the kale, which doesn’t look that appealing. 🙂
If you don’t like kale, I can easily see substituting it with spinach or just omitting it all together. The kalamata olives are nice with this because they add little bursts of salt, so keep that in mind when salting your dish. Capers would be a nice substitution, if you don’t like olives.
If you like my Creamy Tomato Campanelle Pasta, then I would also recommend giving my Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato and Spinach Ravioli a try.
Get the Recipe: Creamy Tomato Campanelle Pasta
Ingredients
- 7 oz. campanelle pasta, or a pasta of your choice
- a good drizzle olive oil, or an oil of your choice
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 6 oz. baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, in olive oil – roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, or a small handful of fresh herbs roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pinch red Chili Flakes, optional
- 14.5 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes, drained (can sub with 1 1/2 cups of tomatoes – seeded and diced small)
- ½ cup kalamata olives, pitted, cut in half
- 1 cup of half and half milk, or non-dairy unsweetened cream (may need more depending on how creamy you want your sauce)
- 2 cup roughly chopped kale
- salt and pepper, to taste
Optional Toppings:
- freshly grated parmesan cheese
- fresh basil, torn
Instructions
- Prepare pasta according to package, reserve ½ cup of pasta water and set to the side, drain the pasta, and set it to the side.
- In a large skillet, drizzle the olive oil, and heat skillet to medium heat. Add in the onion and mushrooms and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes or until the onion is translucent. Stir in the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and a pinch of red chili flakes. Sauté for a few more minutes and then stir in the petite diced tomatoes and kalamata olives. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, allowing the tomatoes to break down a bit.
- Pour in the pasta water and half and half and stir. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes and season the sauce with salt and pepper to your liking.
- Stir in the pasta and kale and incorporate into your sauce and simmer for just a few more minutes. If your sauce gets too thick, then add a little water to thin it out a bit. Serve and top with parmesan cheese and freshly torn basil, if desired. Enjoy!
